Debt
by Andi88
Summary: It took a while, but Snow has finally paid off her credit card. As she mails off the check, she reflects on how, wielded by a clever little boy, it brought her daughter home. O/S This is pure fluff of the fluffiest variety. I remain unapologetic. :)


"HaHA!" Snow triumphantly slapped a stamp on an envelope with a dramatic flourish.

David smiled from behind the kitchen counter. "Show that envelope who's boss, my love."

Snow chuckled. "It's my credit card payment. I've FINALLY caught up!"

"Why did you even have a credit card from the outside, anyway?"

In all honesty, Snow had no idea what had possesed her to apply for it nearly a decade ago. She'd hardly ever used it, except for occasional emergencies that usually involved school supplies. When it had disappeared from her wallet two years ago, she hadn't even noticed. At least not until the mayor had barged in, demanding to know why she'd "given" her son a credit card.

To her husband, Snow shrugged. "Impulse thing, I guess. I was going to close it...but I think maybe I'll hang on to it. You never know."

"You don't really need it," David reasoned. "We have everything we need here, besides monetary exchange in Storybrooke has kinda stopped for the time being."

Snow raised an eyebrow. "But it can't stay that way forever, Charming. The day may come when we have to merge with the outside world. Become an actual part of it..."

"There's no place for us out there," David argued softly. It was a sensitive subject for the both of them. Never had they disagreed so strongly on any subject.

Snow sighed and walked away, effectively dropping the subject. She loved her husband more than life, therefor she really didn't feel like getting into a fight right then. Things were finally starting to go smoothly in Storybrooke. They'd bought a house, (well, moved in, rather. It was one of the few properties not owned by Rumpelstiltskin, actually it was owned by the city. Being a beloved king and queen, no one objected to them taking it,) and lived together with their daughter and grandson. Cora was MIA, and things had at long last settled into a version of normalcy.

But just because economy in Storybrooke was still being...figured out, that didn't stop Visa from sending their bills.

She took the little blue card to tuck back into her wallet, feeling an odd bit of a sentimental attachment to it.

She remembered the day her bill came after Henry had taken it to find his mother. It was the first time it had ever exeeded $50, so when Mary Margaret laid eyes on the $392.47 bill, she nearly had a heart attack.

Maybe it wouldn't seem like much to some people, but for a woman living alone on a teacher's salery, it was a big deal. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to afford the whole payment at the time...which meant interest began to build, and soon she had a pretty serious dept on her hands.

No matter what, though, Mary Margaret couldn't bring herself to be angry at the clever little boy who was so desperate to escape his lonely life and find his birth mother that he stole his teacher's credit card. Though paying the child's dept was a burden, it was one she took on silently and without grudge.

Regina, of course, hadn't offered to pay the broke teacher back, and Mary Margaret assumed that Emma had kind of forgotten, not that she would have accepted payment from latter anyway.

In truth, as time wore on and Emma became not just her roommate but her best friend, made Henry happier than the teacher had ever seen him, and started changing the town for the better, the bills became less and less of a burden at all.

It was impossible to be angry, anyway, when that sweet little boy stayed late after class one afternoon to apologize.

"Miss Blanchard?"

Mary Margaret glanced up from the papers she was grading to see that one student still remained after the bell had rung. "Yes, Henry?"

Henry approached his teacher's desk shyly, fiddling with his scarf. "I uh, I wanted to say I'm sorry. For stealing your credit card, I mean."

Mary Margaret sighed and searched for the right words. "I...understand why you did it, Henry. But you know that stealing is wrong, don't you?"

"I know!" he exclaimed, his guilt clearly real. "When I took it, I thought maybe I could sneak it back and maybe you wouldn't notice."

Mary Margaret fought back a smile. Smart though he was, he was still a sweetly naive child. "I would have noticed when the bill came."

"Yeah..." Henry shuffled his feet. "Archie explained that to me. I didn't really realize how much the Find Your Momma website, the bus ticket, and the taxi would all cost together. I'm _really_ sorry, Miss Blanchard."

Mary Margaret couldn't take it anymore. In her head she knew that stealing a credit card and racking up a $400 bill was a serious offense and that the child _should_ be punished...but in her _heart _she knew that he'd only done what he felt needed to be done and that he really hadn't meant harm. Something deep inside her told her that she would have done the exact same thing. That coupled with the boy's guilt-ridden eyes triggered an instinct to protect that she didn't even know she had.

"I'm not angry, Henry."

"You're not? Really?"

"It's wrong to steal," no matter what, she _had _to make that clear. "And I don't approve of that, and I _certainly_ don't approve of you getting on a bus and going to Boston all by yourself. But I get it. I do. I think...I think maybe I would have done the same thing if I'd been in your position."

The spark that Mary Margaret so loved to see in the boy's eyes returned full force, and he looked at her slyly. "I think you would have, too."

Mary Margaret smiled. After years of teaching fourth graders, what was it about_ this_ little boy that had worked its way so firmly into her heart? "So how about you just promise me that next time you need help or money or a ride...you'll just _ask _me?"

Henry grinned. "Deal. But I want to pay you back anyway."

"Oh, Sweetie that's not..."

The ten year old reached into his pocket and withdrew a wad of crumbled up dollars and held it out to her proudly. "I know it'll take me a while to pay it all back, but I promise I will."

Mary Margaret stared at the ball of money, tears welling in her eyes. She knew that he got $5 a week allowance from his mother, and that he sometimes did odd jobs for Archie, Marco and Granny. She also knew that whatever he was holding was probably saved up for many weeks.

"Henry..." she stood up to walk to the other side of her desk to sit on one of the student's chairs so that she could look him in the eyes, then placed her palm on the side of his face. "Sweetie, you are the most couragous, kind, and good-hearted boy I've ever met. I appreciate you trying to right your wrong, but really, Henry, it isn't necessary. I don't mind paying for it. I want you to keep your money."

But the boy was determined, as he was in everything. "Please, Miss Blanchard? Finding my mom, bringing her _here_, that was my part. I want to pay."

"Is this about your book?"

Henry chewed his bottom lip and took on that same serious expression he'd worn when he told her that she was actually Snow White, she just didn't remember. "She's the Savior. She's the only one who can break the curse you're under!"

Mary Margaret nodded solomnly. "So this is important to you?"

He nodded emphatically.

Finally, Mary Margaret agreed to let the boy pay her back in increments. She figured that if he felt that strongly about it, it wouldn't hurt him and it would teach him a valuable lesson about money in the process.

So from that day on, every Monday Henry would lag behind after the bell rang and would present Mary Margaret with a couple of dollar bills, or maybe some change. Each week she accepted it in all seriousness, and even kept a ledger of how much he'd paid, and how much he owed. It seemed to comfort him, to give him a sense of responsibilty. On days when he didn't have to go straight home, he stayed after class to help in her in the classroom, sharpening pencils, cleaning the chalkboard, and whatever else she could think of and she took it off his "dept". If Regina knew about thier little deal, she never mentioned it.

* * *

The whole thing didn't even cross her mind after the curse broke, and his payments had stopped. She continued to pay the bill though, only with a glad heart then, because her favorite little student had done so much more that just find his mom that day.

After Snow's final payment was in the mail, she no longer had to give it any thought. So when, weeks later, Henry came up to her as she ate her breakfast at the kitchen counter with a sizable amount of cash in his hand, she was puzzled at first.

"What's this?" she asked.

"My payment," Henry said, with an 'isn't it obvious?' tone.

"What payment?" Emma asked from behind a spoonful of cereal.

"For the money I spent when I took Mary Margaret's credit card," Henry explained, then turned back to Snow. "Sorry I'm behind, Gram, but look! I've saved up twenty bucks!"

Snow glanced up at Emma and David, who watched on in amusement. "Keep it, Henry," she said.

Henry furrowed his brow in confusion. "But why? I promised I'd pay you back."

"I know, and that is a very honorable thing to do," she swiveled in her chair to face him. "Do you remember what you said when you came to apologize that day? That finding your mom and bringing her here was your part?"

Henry nodded, and from behind him Emma's eyes widened slightly.

"Well, maybe paying for it was _my_ part. Henry...do you realize the gift you've given me? Given us all?"

Henry smiled modestly. "Mom is who broke the curse..."

"Couldn't have ever done it if you hadn't found me," Emma said, her eyes misty and far away, as if the twelve year old beside her was again the ten year old knocking on her door and changing her life with three words.

"And not if _you _hadn't done everything in your power to make her believe," David said, smiling.

Snow placed her palm on the side of his face. "You brought my baby girl home, Henry. But you gave us so much more than that. You gave us all our _family_. You gave me back my husband. You gave me my grandson."

Henry bowed his head slightly, but was beaming with pride.

"I finished paying off the card," Snow continued. "and I did so gladly. If my money helped bring my daughter home, then it's a dept I'm more than happy to pay," she looked up and met the eyes of her girl, who was looking back at her so much unabashed love, love that Snow was still working to deserve.

"Thanks, Mama," Emma said softly.

David came up to stand beside them, throwing an arm around both his daughter and grandson. Not long ago, Emma pulled away from such casual physical contact, but now she merely looped her own arm around his waist and leaned her head against his chest from where she sat.

"You know what they say," David said with a smirk. "The family that steals together, stays together!"

Emma rolled her eyes and Henry grinned up at him mischievously. "I guess I'll have to teach my future aunt or uncle how to steal!" David and Emma laughed.

Snow chuckled and shook her head. "I'd rather you not, Sweetie. Besides I'm sure he'll figure it out for himself one day, seems to be unavoidable."

"He?" Emma asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Someone has been playing with my mother's amulet," David said knowingly. Emma grinned from ear to ear.

Snow only smiled innocently and moved to clean up the breakfast dishes while Henry jumped to assist.

"I'll wash the dishes," he offered.

"You don't have to," Snow said, running a loving hand through his hair. "I told you, you don't owe me a thing."

"I know," he said. "I just want to help."

Snow kissed her grandson on the head, grateful that despite all the curse had taken, it had given them _him_.

Once upon a time, Snow White made the heart breaking decision to let go of her baby girl to give her her best chance. Her life stopped the night, and not just because of the curse, and it started again the day Emma Swan waltzed into town. When Snow sent Emma away, she prayed for the day she'd get her back. She never dreamed at the time that her child would come home with a child of her own.

As much as she wished she could have those years with her daughter back, she wouldn't change what happened. Because once upon a time, Snow didn't think she could love anyone as much as the newborn in her arms, but then there was Henry.

And one day there will be another, and her life will be complete.

Yes, she would hold on to her little credit card, because you just never know.


End file.
